A Few Rumors About Game Of Thrones Season 8

As you’re no doubt aware by now, Game Of Thrones is going to keep us waiting a while for a finale. The show won’t wrap up as initially planned in 2018, but will instead debut its eighth and final season next year. On top of that, the season will have fewer episodes than other seasons (though we’re given to understand some of those episodes will be almost movie-length). Even with this unfortunate delay, however, everyone is speculating about who and what we’ll see in the final run of HBO’s biggest drama.

As of January 2018, here’s a little bit of a rumor round-up for season eight and the events that surround it.

Melisandre Will Return

Melisandre was essentially on her way out of Westeros last we knew, and she drifted away from the show as a result. People have anticipated a comeback ever since, however, and to be fair this is now less of a rumor than an announcement. Melisandre’s return has been confirmed, leaving us to speculate only about what she might be doing when she’s back. We know that she was en route to Volantis, and some have speculated that she might have something to do with the Golden Company (which we’ll get to in a moment). They’re also located in Essos, where Volantis is, so perhaps she’ll get back into Westeros alongside them.

The Golden Company Will Feature Prominently

The Golden Company should be a dream come true for Thrones fans. Mentioned repeatedly in the books and worked into the show seemingly as Cersei’s last shot at putting together a formidable fighting force, the Company is basically a legendary band of mercenary soldiers. They produced Bronn, but have yet to be seen in the show, which leaves our imaginations to run wild. We already know that the Golden Company will be part of the final season – German actor Marc Rissman was recently cast as their leader – but we don’t know how big a role they’ll play. We’re guessing that as one of the last big additions to the tale, and presumably an important army unto themselves, they’ll feature prominently.

A Spinoff Could Be In The Future

To be clear, this isn’t just saying a spinoff show is in our future. That much we know for sure. What we’re suggesting here is that one of the four or five planned Game Of Thrones spinoffs could actually take place in the future of the Seven Kingdoms. We know only that the spinoffs will not feature current characters, but could feature characters from the same families and bloodlines. So why are people focused only on histories? It seems just as plausible that at least one of the spinoffs will be set in a future time – perhaps with descendants referring to the wars we’ve witnessed in the same way the current characters look back upon Robert’s Rebellion.

New Games Could Emerge

Video games may be the last thing on Thrones fans’ minds right now. But come season finale time, we’ll all be looking for ways to keep enjoying the story, and at this point games are few and far between. Aside Telltale’s (somewhat mediocre) franchise based on the show, a Game Of Thrones slot online is the most prominent example. It’s not bad: fans will recognize the epic theme tune in the background, visuals and symbols are all drawn from the show, and it feels familiar. Still, it’s not as if it’s a conventional video game. Frankly, it feels like no one’s quite gotten a Game Of Thrones game right just yet, and the time around the finale is the perfect time to do it. There are loose rumors of Bethesda working on a game, so let’s hope that’s an indication of more to come in this area.

Tormund Will Return

This is one of the hotter rumors out there, now that the Melisandre return has been confirmed. Frankly, when we last saw Tormund, he looked thoroughly doomed. The guy was on top of the Wall when it fell; he didn’t just fall off of a towering structure, he fell into its crumbling, icy rubble. Then again, he’s Tormund Giantsbane, one of the toughest guys in Westeros, and the last season and-a-half or so of this show has moved decidedly away from George R.R. Martin’s tendency to let the odds win. We now have miracle comebacks in Game Of Thrones, and that (along with some deep internet theorizing you can find) indicates that Tormund will be back.

Spoilers Will Be Avoided

Lest we forget, hackers stole episodes of Game Of Thrones pretty routinely last summer and posted them online ahead of the actual debuts. It was a major problem for HBO, and one they’ve taken steps to address. We already know, for instance, that they’re actually filming multiple endings so that if episodes are stolen, fans still won’t know what to watch or what to think. It’s an interesting strategy, and we’re betting they have more up their sleeves. This is just a hunch, but HBO may be more successful at preventing spoilers this time around.

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Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.